Various devices are known in the prior art to assist a golfer in improving his or her putting stroke. These prior art devices employ a variety of holes, cups, or complex ramps; however, most are as large or larger than a standard golf hole and are thus cumbersome and not especially portable. Only a few of the prior art devices are designed for both aim and speed assessment. Further, none of these devices provide a portable and non-complex design to provide a practicing golfer with instant speed and alignment and assessment so that a very exact putt can be identified as an optimally putted ball. This type of assessment is important given close quarter putting practice where, currently, artificial holes are ineffective. The prior art devices do not provide a golfer with the necessary challenge needed for the transferring of putting practice skills from close quarter practicing areas to the actual putting green environments. In addition, prior art devices are designed to hug close to the turf or carpet whereby they are fixed from movement by an impacting putted ball and hence, the prior art devices can only be described as being non-interactive with artificial holes, cups or containers.
It has been discovered by those skilled in putting technology that controlling the speed of a putted ball can be as important as the alignment of the putt. Due to the varied slopes and nonuniform surface of the putting turf, it has been discovered that balls putted with a particular optimum speed will be less likely to prematurely break off the original putting alignment. This optimum force has been determined to be one which would cause a golf ball, when putted, to have sufficient speed to pass a golf hole between thirteen inches to twenty inches if missed.
It is also well known in putting practice that using a small putting target such as a coin or tee will assist a golfer in focusing alignment into a very narrow zone. By doing so, a golfer can obtain a greater alignment skill during indoor and close quarter practice. As stated earlier, these putting skills are necessary for their transfer onto an actual putting green environment.
Given the importance of the above noted speed and alignment requirements for putting practice, if follows that putting practice device would be greatly enhanced by incorporating in their design, a mechanism to identify both optimum speed and alignment of a putted ball.
The prior art also includes devices having artificial holes greater in size than the 4.25 inch hole found on an actual green. Such prior art devices are provided with lips or impediments which negate the ability of the prior art device to convey to the golfer a shot which, though not optimum, is still reasonably good. This is because the lip or impediment of such prior art devices extend beyond the diameter of a standard 4.25 inch hole and therefore project into the putting turf region beyond the hole. Accordingly, a put which may actually have gone into the hole is incorrectly read by such prior art devices as having missed the hole.